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I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.

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Saturday, June 20, 2009

In the May issue of Saveur, Anya von Bremzen wrote about living and eating in Istanbul. The pastries, like baked rice pudding, looked wonderful, and the mezes including salt pickled vegetables and a baba-gannouj-like dip looked great too. The stuffed eggplant caught my eye, and then I noticed this tomato salad with herbs and pomegranate. I guessed that this would be brightly flavored and fresh and have a nice, tanginess. It was suggested as a garnish for falafel, and that sounded perfect. I don’t know terribly much about Turkish food, but I’ve been learning from Give Recipe and Turkish Food Passion. Every time I visit those sites, I see dishes I want to try.

This salad is a combination of several chopped, fresh tomatoes, a lot of flat-leaf parsley, mint, some onion, fresh thyme, paprika, lemon juice, scallions, banana peppers, a little garlic, and pomegranate molasses. It’s garnished with ground sumac. When I read that ingredient list, I imagined all those flavors mingled together and couldn’t wait to try it. I used a falafel recipe from Epicurious, but I’m not sure if proper Turkish falafel is prepared in a different way. At any rate, the salad and falafel made a very nice pair. I whipped up a tahini, yogurt, lemon sauce and served a mound of salad with falafel sitting on top and plopped a little sauce in the center.

Both the falafel and salad recipes make enough to serve six, so after having this for dinner, there was plenty remaining for a few lunches. To describe the salad, I keep coming back to the freshness of it. The herbs and lemon and scallions did that for it, and the pomegranate molasses, although subtle, added a nice tangy sweetness. The flavors were so right with the chickpeas, onion, cumin, and coriander in the falafel. This is a definite keeper, and some day when I’ve practiced more with Turkish cuisine, I hope to be able to prepare an entire feast.

I had another variation of falafel and another variation of this tomato salad at an Israeli restaurant a while back and have not stopped thinking about them. The flavors, the freshness, etc. I just love this kind of cuisine. Can't wait to try the Turkish version.

I have an almost full bottle of pomegranate molasses in my pantry and now I know what to do with it! I love Middle Eastern food and hardly ever eat it. I am afraid to fry my felafel. How did it go for you?

Dana: I formed the falafel and let them sit in the refrigerator for an hour or so. I think that helped them keep their shape when I fried them. I just used a good covering of the pan bottom with oil in a skillet and browned them for about two minutes on each side. They were easy to turn and remove from the pan with no breaking or crumbling. All in all, an easy frying experience.

Sounds so delicious Lisa. I really want to make this. I better soak my dried chickpeas now, so it will be ready tomorrow. The salad is no stranger in my home, we all like it, is similar to Israeli salad, no?

I'm not very versed in Turkish cooking but I've learned a lot from Zerrin at Give Recipe too! I like how this recipe uses pomegranate molasses. I bought a bottle to enhance some pomegranate ice cream and its been sitting in my pantry since. Looks crispy and delicious.

That looks amazing; my mouth is watering so much i'm thinking of making falafel for lunch...I love to have labna with my falafel. 1 kg of natural yoghurt mixed with 1 tsp salt. wrap in tight knit muslin and hang so that the whey separates and drips away leaving a consistency of thick cream cheese (24 hours). Transfer to storage container and & add several garlic cloves and fronds of rosemary. Allow to infuse; about 24 hours. Falafel with labna spread on top is amazing.

'Fresh' is simply the best word to describe this salad! This is an instance where I see only photos and read the ingredients but feel as I if I can already taste it! I read that falafel is also made w/fava beans - great for me since I can't have chickpeas. Can't wait to try this!

Okay I just made reservations for a place here in Dallas, so I can eat eggplant and this! My friends are just plain meat and potato eaters (nothing wrong with this), and they would frown if I tried to serve them many of the good things you always make...something about going home seems so good!

I'd been eyeing this from Saveur too but haven't tried any of those recipes yet. I was introduced to Turkish cooking a couple of years ago after someone sent me an article in response to one of my posts, which I guess was vaguely middle Eastern. At any rate, I've loved the cacophony of flavors in what I've had. Where did you find the pomegranate molasses? Trader Joe's here used to sell it but they discontinued, so I've been making my own. Sure would love to just pick up a bottle...